The identity of the capital of the Azores is actually an interesting question, with an answer different than most people expect, I think...
The capital is neither Angra nor Ponta Delgada. The Azores do not have an official capital, even though nowadays Ponta Delgada is often called the capital or assumed to be the capital (because the prime minister is based there, and because it is by far the largest city and the major economic center). The decision not to designate a city as the capital, made when the Azores were granted autonomy in 1976, was (from what I have read) intentional. Nations and regions that are composed of archipelagos or other collections of islands are often especially susceptible to political disputes over where to locate shared institutions, although that is also something even non-island nations and regions experience... It's just that collections of islands often have even more heightened local identities and perceptions that (unlike with areas of contiguous land) notions of shared identity get disrupted by the sea. This has been an issue that in previous generations held back the development of a strong shared regional Azorean identity, as opposed to being first a micaelense or picoense or corvino or faialense, etc -- followed by being not "Azorean" but "Portuguese"... (Another example of this phenomenon with islands is the several attempts that were made to bring the former British colonies in the Caribbean together into a single federal state, such as the failed effort to bring the West Indies Federation as a single unit to independence from Britain; strong separate island identities and competition over dominance doomed that effort.) In any event, the decision was made to share instead of concentrating the government in a single city, and to disperse among the Azores' three major cities (each of which is on a different island) the locations of the key governmental institutions of the new Autonomous Region. Consequently, since 1976, Ponta Delgada is where the prime minister and the rest of the executive branch and agencies are based, but the judicial branch is headquartered in Angra do Heroísmo and the Assembleia Legislativa, the legislature, sits in Horta. Many on this list will of course immediately note that these three cities, were also, prior to 1976, the seats of the three districts into which the Azores were divided in 1836: Ponta Delgada covered São Miguel and Santa Maria; Angra covered Terceira, Graciosa, and São Jorge; and Horta covered Faial, Pico, Flores, and Corvo. If I recall correctly, even before the 1836 creation of the districts no city was ever officially designated as the "capital" of the Azores, although the primary governmental and church institutions of the Azores were (again, if I recall correctly) mostly (or all?) historically based in Angra, e.g., a royal council, the bishop, etc. Ponta Delgada was (as it is to this day) the most populous city of the archipelago and the de facto "business capital," but (at least according to what I have read) it was Angra that traditionally hosted the top institutions of both church and state. (Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I am about the earlier periods can fill out the description of the pre-1836 picture?) David da Silva Cornell Miami, FL Researching the following surnames: Faial - Terra (unknown freguesia(s)) Flores - Freitas, Lourenço, Coelho (unknown freguesia(s)) Pico - Silveira Cardoso, Macedo, Machado, Pereira Madruga, Ferreira, Cardoso, Cardoso Machado, Vieira, Bettencourt, Dutra, Castanho, Homem, Goulart, Quaresma, Moniz, Barreto, Silveira, Pereira, Álvares (all Lajes do Pico) S. Jorge - Silva, Botelho, Azevedo, Cardoso (Urzelina); Silva, Azevedo, Cardoso (Santo António in Norte Grande) On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 12:22:30 PM UTC-4, Cheri Mello wrote: > > Many are signing with the cross, which pretty much looks like a +. > > The Azores were basically discovered from east to west. Yes, Santa Maria > was the first (Wikipedia says 1439 was settlement) and Sao Miguel was the > 1440s. Terceira was third (the translation of Terceira is Third). It was > originally named Island of Jesus Christ, as it was discovered on Dec. 24th > or 25th. As with any history coming from that time period, things weren't > recorded and there are other theories on the name and discovery dates. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_Island > > You can use Wikipedia as a general guideline. Just remember that it may > not be historians that wrote that article and there can be mistakes (I > think I read somewhere that Angra is the capital of the Azores when it's > Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel). > > Cheri Mello > Listowner, Azores-Gen > Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das > Tainhas, Achada > -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. 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